Ken Borland

Danie van Tonder felt becalmed through the first four holes of the final round of the African Bank Championship at Glendower Golf Club on Friday, but he showed his ever-growing maturity as he held his round together and posted a bogey-free 68 to win the Sunshine Tour’s second Rise Up Series event by three strokes.

Van Tonder started the final day tied for the lead with in-form Martin Rohwer and rising star Jayden Schaper, but they fell away and his greatest challenge came from the experienced Neil Schietekat, who birdied three holes in succession from the second to briefly move into a one-shot lead on eight-under-par.

The 29-year-old Van Tonder, from The Els Club Copperleaf, even had to contend with hitting into the water on the par-five second hole. He managed to scramble his way up-and-down for a par and his patience started paying off once he birdied the par-four fifth.

He gained another shot on the seventh and birdies on the two par-fives on the back nine saw him saunter to victory as Schietekat (69) finished on eight-under, tied for second along with Adilson da Silva (67) and George Coetzee (68).

“I had to be patient because I made a slow start and hit it in the water on the second but managed to get up-and-down for par. But sometimes it’s just your week, to be honest I felt I played good golf the whole week, I was consistent and I was confident in my game. I kept the same aggression as the first two rounds but just made sure I missed in the right place.

“If you hit the ball well and putt well then this is the sort of course you will do well on, if you hit it straight then the course will give you a few birdies because the greens are so quick and true. And it feels special because of putting in all the hard work during Lockdown, getting those callouses back on my hands, gyming and training hard,” Van Tonder said after his fourth Sunshine Tour triumph.

Veteran Da Silva produced some marvellous golf to climb into a share of second, birdieing the 16^th and 18^th holes, both par-fours, to post a 67, joint best round of the day with Tristen Strydom, who lifted himself into a tie for 13^th.

The 19-year-old Schaper endured a chastening day as he went after his first professional title, slumping to a three-over-par 75 to finish in a share of sixth along with Rohwer. Schaper started bogey-bogey and this marvellous prospect will have learnt much from being in the final group. Deon Germishuys (68), Luke Brown (69), Louis Albertse (72), Darren Fichardt (73) and Jaco Ahlers (74) were the other golfers to finish tied for sixth on four-under, while Dylan Mostert was alone in fifth after an excellent 68 lifted him to six-under.

Killarney Country Club once again put the Sunshine Tour’s top pros through the mill on Thursday, with only four golfers able to enjoy the comfort of being under par after the second round of the Betway Championship, the opening event of the Rise Up Series that marks the return to action after the Covid-19 Lockdown.

Top of the pile was Sunshine Tour veteran Alex Haindl, who shot a marvellous 67 on Thursday to go into the final round on three-under-par, one stroke ahead of another stalwart in Anton Haig. Two other very experienced campaigners in Ulrich van den Berg and Adilson da Silva are the other golfers under par, after they both finished on one-under after shooting 69s.

Although conditions were warmer and there was just a comfortable breeze blowing, the 103-man field once again struggled with the hard and fast greens, putting a premium on accuracy off the tee on the tight, tree-lined layout.

Haindl, rebuilding his career after a couple of back surgeries, was relieved to be playing well in his 20^th season on the Sunshine Tour.

“It’s just nice to be playing again, you don’t know where you game is when you’re just practising at home because you’re not under the gun and you can’t see where your game needs to be better. Since my last surgery last year it just felt like I couldn’t get going, I wasn’t moving the way I like, but today was a bit better. The game was a bit neater today, I kept it together better.

“My short game was a bit sharper today as I got more used to the dry fairways and firm greens. I was just trying to miss in the right places and made a couple of good saves. Luckily I wasn’t playing too early in the morning, although it was a bit windy. But as the weather heats up, the ball flies further almost immediately – it’s like one shot suddenly goes 6-7 metres further,” Haindl said after his round which included just a solitary dropped shot at the par-three 17^th.

The youngsters that are used to bombing the ball miles off the tee seem to be losing this particular arms race, given the veterans in the top four, but there are still some fresh faces very much in contention to claim the first Sunshine Tour title on offer since Lockdown.

Rookie Ruan Korb is just three strokes back on level-par, while former amateur sensation Jayden Schaper showed once again that he has the mettle, even though he is still in his teens, to mix it with the men as he lay in a threatening position just four strokes back after solid rounds of 73 and 68.

Keith Horne is with him on one-over-par and he clearly has all the weapons to win on Friday, having claimed nine Sunshine Tour titles. First-round leader Dylan Mostert slipped back into a tie for ninth after a 75 on Thursday, but he is just five shots adrift of the lead.

Haindl said patience and accuracy off the tee would be key attributes to win on Friday.

“The par-fives are quite important but it’s very difficult to stop your second shot on the green, so there are no gimmies. If you drive decently then you can have a lot of wedges coming in, so if you’re swinging okay then you can give yourself a few chances. But it’s very tough, you need to stay patient and accept the outcome if you’ve done your best, if you had a good yardage and a good swing.

“My game-plan was pretty decent, I kept it in play most of the time and gave myself chances. In order to win tomorrow, I just have to play better than the other guys!” Haindl said.

The country’s top golfers are going to Killarney Country Club on Wednesday morning to restart the professional game with the Betway Championship, and Danie van Tonder, given the way he finished last season, is going to be one of the favourites to claim the Sunshine Tour’s first title after the Covid-19 Lockdown.

Van Tonder finished in the top-10 five times in January and February, lifting him to second place in the final order of merit. With winner JC Ritchie not playing this week, the 29-year-old from Boksburg is looking to maintain that sort of consistency. But he is going to have to rein in his usual aggressive play a little to succeed on a course like Killarney which requires more strategy than power.

“I had three months off which gave me time to work on things, try and fix some things to make me more consistent. When you’re playing week-after-week, you can’t really change things and it takes like 21 days to teach your body something new. But we start over again now, I’ve lost some weight and I’m stronger, so I’m really looking forward to getting out there again.

“Killarney has lots of doglegs, water hazards and ditches, so it might not be a long course, but it is difficult. You’ve got to get your lay-ups right and pitch-and-putt very well. I’m normally very attacking, but you can’t be too aggressive going over the trees, and there are so many of them. Plus the greens are firm, so if you’re pitching from the rough you’re going to be in trouble,” Van Tonder told The Citizen on Tuesday.

For Sunshine Tour stalwart Jaco Ahlers it will be business as usual though, as the 37-year-old veteran of 268 tournaments looks to build on one of his most successful seasons ever, finishing third on the order of merit for 2019/20.

“I’m really looking forward to playing competitive golf again after the longest layoff in my career. We’ve had time to get ready and the game is pretty decent. It was in a good space when we stopped playing and I’ve just worked on a little swing feeling. But I’m very surprised how good the game feels, I don’t feel I’ve lost a lot. But it’s just the mentality of competitive golf that has to come back.

“It’s a different mindset to the little money games you have at home, you need to get those tournament golf feelings back and sometimes it comes quickly and sometimes it doesn’t. And Killarney is always a really good, demanding layout on which you’ve got to place the ball in certain positions to have a shot in. You’ve really got to think your way around and you can’t just bomb Driver,” Ahlers said.

Professional golf returns to action this month with two events in the Rise Up Series sponsored by Betway and African Bank, and the Sunshine Tour is also confident they will complete negotiations with three other investors for a further trio of tournaments next month.

The country’s top golfers will return to competition on August 19 with the Betway Championship at Killarney Country Club, followed by the African Bank Championship at Glendower Golf Club from August 26-28. Three other events are lined up for Pretoria Country Club (September 2-4), ERPM Golf Club (September 23-25) and Huddle Park (September 30-October 2). Each tournament has a purse of R600 000.

“These are exciting times with the Rise Up Series. We would love to be playing for much more money, but these are tough times. But we are going to do some clever things with our wonderful sponsors. For the Betway Championship there will be a birdie challenge with a R50 000 pot, the golfer with the most birdies wins R25 000, second-most gets R15 000 and third is R10 000.

“African Bank also jumped at the opportunity to get involved and they will be bringing their portfolios in and around the golf clubs. SuperSport are tour partners as well and we have other hooks in the water. We are just waiting for confirmation but we are hopeful of having title sponsors for all five events. Plus there will be live streaming of the action for the last three-and-a-half hours every Friday, so that’s further reach,” Sunshine Tour deputy commissioner Thomas Abt said in a virtual press conference on Tuesday.

Sunshine Tour stalwart Jake Roos said the players are just delighted for the opportunity to both play some competitive golf again and earn a living.

“The last time we played was the Tour Championship back in February, so everybody is very grateful to the Sunshine Tour staff who have shown a lot of dedication to get us playing again. It’s important for us pro golfers to compete again, you lose your edge if you don’t play, and it will be nice to earn some money too. We are all super-excited.

“It will be unchartered waters because we’ve had six months off and a lot of guys have never had more than a few weeks without competing. Luckily we have been playing and practising for a couple of months now, but until the pressure of a tournament you never know how your game really is. But we are all refreshed and have had time to work on some technical things,” Roos said.